Текст книги "Family Secrets"
Автор книги: Kate Kane
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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 13 страниц)
Chapter 15
All families have secrets
Lane managed to get out of another round of car shopping with Uncle Vinnie; but she still didn’t leave Bellini’s until nearly three o’clock. That left only a couple of hours for her to drive to the Royals stadium to pick up tickets for a baseball game next Sunday and then swing by the Power and Light District to pick up a special order at the Garment District and make it back to her office to meet Ben at five-thirty.
Like every place in the USA, summer is prime road construction time in Kansas City. Lane shook her head, sometimes no matter where she wanted to go; it felt like she couldn’t get there from where ever she started. It was just after five o’clock and traffic was at a standstill as she approached the College exit and headed toward the office.
Telco had a policy in the summer, which allowed employees to work 30 minutes extra Monday through Thursday and then leave the office at 3:00 on Fridays. Most employees took advantage so they could get on the road toward their lake house destinations early Friday afternoon, so she wasn’t surprised to find the parking lot almost empty. Still she parked at the curb. After all, she was just going to take the elevator to the fifth floor, unlock her office, and grab the package. She’d park when Ben got there so they could use her ID to get them both into the underground lot.
She was surprised that there was no one at the guard station as she entered, but she scanned her ID and walked through the turn style. She was feeling anxious as she waited for the slower than usual elevator.
She unlocked the door to her office and was greeted with the fragrance of roses. She smiled. The roses Ben had sent on Tuesday were still beautiful. She’d better take them home. They wouldn’t last through the weekend.
The package from Evie was sitting on her desk along with a note from Meg. She read the note. “I’d have taken your roses home myself except I knew you were coming in today and thought you’d want to have them with you.” Once again, she and Meg were on the same page. There was no way she was going to be able to carry the roses and the package.
What the heck had Evie sent? The package wasn’t heavy, just large enough that she needed both hands to carry it. She looked at her watch, okay; she’d make two trips then. She still had a few minutes before Ben would be there. She picked up the package and carried it out. No need to lock the office, she’d be right back. Again, the elevator was slower than usual, and still no guard at the station as she walked out. He must be making his rounds checking the offices and parking garage.
She was lost in thought as she approached her office. It was probably why she didn’t hear the voices until she’d gone through the door.
“Hurry up, Craig. How long does it take to hide the damn papers? The office might be closed, but you never know about that Kelly bitch. She might still be here, after all, the door was unlocked, and she guards the Parker bitch and her office like a pit bull.”
“Shut up, bro. I’ve got to make it look good.”
Kyle Paulson had his back to her as he talked to Craig Turner. Lane gasped and started to back out of the room, but it was too late. Craig Turner had looked up at his companion to see her standing there.
“Speaking of the Parker bitch, grab her before she gets away.”
Lane struggled as the guard grabbed her upper arm. “What are you two doing in my office?”
Kyle pushed her into one of the visitor chairs by her desk. “Shut up. What are we going to do now, Craig?”
Kyle had pulled out his gun and was pointing it at Lane as he spoke to the other man. “When I came to you for money for Gracie’s treatments, you told me that you knew how to get the money and get something for yourself too. Well, it’s been almost a week, and I still ain’t got any money. The shrinks say she needs to be in a facility. My insurance ain’t going to cover it. I need that money.”
Kyle had started to pace as he waved the gun at Lane.
Lane steadied herself in the chair, and calmly asked, “Who’s Gracie, Kyle?”
“She’s my wife. She had started having hallucinations or something. She’s had CT scan after scan, but she says the doctors were wrong. She says she doesn’t understand why the scans don’t show the little man who lives in her head and talks to her.”
“Shut up Kyle.”
Lane held her breath as Kyle swung around and now pointed the gun at Craig Turner.
“No, brother. You shut up. Gracie says I shouldn’t have come to you. She says the little man says you’re not trying to help us. She says the little man says you’re just trying to help yourself to Ms. Parker’s job. Maybe Gracie ain’t so crazy after all.”
Lane looked from one man to the other. Kyle Paulson had just called Craig Turner brother, but they looked nothing alike. Again, with a calm that she didn’t really feel, she said, “I have some money, Kyle. Maybe I could help you with Gracie’s treatments.”
Craig Turner approached her. “Just shut up, Lane,” He hissed. “This was supposed to be easy. Kyle was just supposed to dispose of dear old dad, they’d read the will, and the money would all be split between his two bastard sons. That’s what he told me when I went to him after my mother died and I found out who my father really was. He told me I had a half-brother. Imagine my shock when I found out my brother was the guy who was guarding the offices where I worked.”
Craig ran his hands through his hair. Then he laughed. “Imagine my surprise when I saw you sitting behind us. I was so worried that you’d recognize me, but I guess the Royals baseball hat I had on was enough of a disguise. Either that or I’ve always been invisible to you. Then I started thinking. Why not pin the murder on you. The Chief Privacy Officer title should have been mine anyway. Would have been if you hadn’t screwed your way into it. You’re so hot but so cold. You’ve never given me a second look, too busy screwing the boss.”
Although it was something she’d heard before, the comment still made her stomach churn. Lane was tall, thin, and pretty. When she had been promoted to director level at the baby bell, she had actually overheard a conversation between two men who were speculating that she was too pretty to be very bright and obviously, she must have slept her way into the title. The truth was she had an I.Q. of 187; and she had double master’s degrees – Business Administration and Information Systems. But, like the two idiots in Omaha, Craig obviously could see better than he could think. Just another man who let his little head do the thinking for him. She’d have brought this to Craig Turner’s attention if not for Kyle Paulson who was pacing and swinging the gun somewhat wildly in her direction. It seemed in her best interest to keep her mouth shut and allow Craig to think what he would at least for now.
She wanted to know what they were going to do with her, but that was something else she thought best not discussed. So, Kyle had committed the murder and Craig had decided to frame her for it. Now that she’d stumbled into whatever they were doing in her office, it seemed like the only thing left for them was to add another body to the count. At least that was what her powers of deduction told her, but then again she was only the one who read crime novels and had the big I.Q. What did she know?
The phone on her desk rang. She looked at her watch and then she looked at Craig.
“The office is closed; no one is supposed to be here. Just let it ring,” Craig growled.
Inside her purse, which sat in front of her on her desk, her cell phone began ringing. Ben’s ring tone. He must be downstairs wondering what was taking so long.
“I should probably answer that. I was supposed to meet someone at five-thirty. He’ll be wondering where I am.”
She could see the indecision on Craig’s face.
“It’s probably one of those guys who was here after the fire. Better let her get it. She can just tell him she’s running late or something.” Kyle was pointing the gun toward her purse.
God, please don’t let him shoot her purse. It was new and she really liked it.
“Okay tell him you’re sick or something and cancel. Put it on speaker.”
Lane opened her purse and pulled her iPhone out, she pushed the speaker icon. “Hello?”
“Lane, just checking to see how much longer you’ll be.”
“Oh, Mick. I have a killer headache. I should have called earlier but I’ve been completely out of it. I need to cancel.”
“Hey, no problem. Maybe I can catch you the next time I’m in the neighborhood.”
“Sure, Mick, that’s a great idea. Talk to you soon.”
She hung up. She knew Ben was downstairs. She hoped that he’d picked up on her emphasis on the word killer and that by using Mick’s name he’d know there was something wrong and that he’d call Mick or their friend Hunter. She just hoped she could keep these two criminal masterminds occupied until the cavalry got there. Kyle was waving the gun around in her direction again.
“So, Craig, all of this was your idea anyway. Now what are we going to do? I still ain’t got any money and in fact, I don’t believe there ever was any. I’m thinking that maybe you made the whole thing up. Maybe we ain’t even brothers. Maybe you were just looking to get someone to off the old guy for you.”
Chapter 16
Riding to the rescue
Ben had arrived at Telco just before five-thirty. Lane’s Escalade was parked at the curb. That didn’t surprise him, but the cargo area door was wide open and that did surprise him. He couldn’t think of a single reason Lane would have left it open. He went to the SUV and looked inside. There was a package in the cargo area. Obviously she’d been in the office and gotten the package. He dialed her office number. No answer. He dialed her cell. There was something wrong.
When she said Hello, he could tell he was on speaker and instead of calling her by her nickname, he called her by her name. And then she’d called him Mick. There was definitely something wrong.
He unlocked his glove compartment and took out his gun, but left the holster where it was. He got the clip from the locked storage compartment under his seat. He put in his blue tooth earpiece and dialed McGuire’s cell.
“Mickey. I’m at Lane’s office. There’s something wrong.” He related the odd phone conversation.
“I’m going in,” he said as he snapped the clip in place and pulled back the slide to chamber a round.
“That had better not be a gun I hear, Bellini.”
“I have a permit, Mickey and like I said, I’m going in. And if you’re thinking about sending in the uni’s send them silent.” Ben was out of his car before Mick had a chance to say that he was five minutes out. “I can’t wait. If you’re here before the elevator comes, fine. Otherwise, like I said, I’m going in.”
Ben had cleared the empty guard station and jumped over the turn style when he heard the door open behind him.
He smiled. Mickey really did have a problem telling time, but this was one time he was glad of it. He pushed the elevator button.
“You realize that this is out of my jurisdiction and you have no business being here with that gun at all,” Mick whispered as he joined Ben, gun drawn.
“Yeah, but I’m guessing you called Hunter. Besides, she’s my girlfriend and she called me by your name. Either of those is enough reason for both of us, I’m guessing.”
Lane had called Ben by his name and that probably galled him as much as anything. The elevator doors opened and they walked in each standing at the rear, both with guns drawn.
“You notice that the guard was missing,” Mick said.
“Yeah, I saw that too. You know Paulson carries a gun, right?”
As the elevator approached the fifth floor, they moved to either side of the doors just in case an armed Kyle Paulson met them. Mick looked left, Ben looked right each nodding that it was clear.
They made their way toward Lane’s office and could hear voices as they approached.
“Kyle, just shut up. Let me think. There’s got to be a way we can still pin this on her and get out of this clean.”
Ben leaned to Mick. “That’s not Paulson.”
“Yeah, means there are two of them.”
“I’m not gonna take the wrap for this all by myself, brother. It was your idea for me to kill the old man. Maybe I should shoot you and let Ms. Parker give me the money for Gracie’s treatment. I could claim I found you holding her here. Ms. Parker could say that she heard you confess to the murder.”
“Come on, why should she do that? What’s to stop her from telling the truth? Right now, it would be two against one. But, if you shoot me, then it would just be her word against yours and who do you think the cops would believe, huh brother? Who?”
“But she offered the money for Gracie’s treatments. I think she’d keep quiet to keep her kids safe. She knows I can get into her house any time I want. Just like I did to plant that screwdriver under her bed. Hell, she could have been sleeping when I did it for all she knows.”
Ben and Mick stood just outside the office door. It was obvious from the argument that only Paulson had a gun. And, it was obvious that Paulson and the other man were having a falling out. They had to go in before it spiraled out of control.
Mick held up his hand signaling that he’d go in first low followed by Ben in the higher position. He held up three fingers and counted down.
Lane was sitting in the chair facing the door and had tried not to show any expression when she’d seen the movement outside the door to ensure that neither Turner nor Paulson knew the cavalry had finally arrived. The criminals who were both standing with their backs to the door were taken completely by surprise when Mick shouted. “Police, freeze.”
Mick bent Kyle Paulson over the desk, took his gun, and hand cuffed him. Ben had Craig Turner one arm behind his back with Ben’s gun pointed at his head.
Her rescuers looked at her. She was still sitting in the chair. One leg neatly crossed over the other appearing to be calmer than anyone in that situation should be.
“Red, are you okay? Did these guys hurt you? And why do you look so calm.”
“I’m fine. Compared to union negotiations, this was nothing. Although, there is something I’d like to clear up with him.” She pointed at Craig Turner.
“Craig. I did not as you stated, screw my way into this job or any other job, ever! I have worked very hard for every promotion I’ve ever gotten.” She didn’t know why it was so important to tell him, it just was, and now that no one was waving a gun in her direction, she felt safe in doing so.
As she finished, a man she assumed was Adam Hunter came into the room. As Ben handed Craig Turner over to him, he introduced Adam to Lane.
Adam Mirandized both men. The official charges would come from the DA, but Ben suspected it would be murder, criminal conspiracy to commit murder and false imprisonment for starters and maybe extortion if they needed it. After all, Paulson had made a threat about hurting her and her kids if she told the truth.
Ben took Lane into his arms. “Red, you scared the hell out of me, please don’t ever do it again.”
She laughed. “Believe me counselor, I don’t intend to.”
Ben looked from Mick to Adam. “You guys need her to make a statement tonight?”
“I heard Paulson admit to the murder with my own ears, but I am going to need statements, from both of you. We can do it in the morning. Say around ten o’clock,” Mick said as he and Adam walked Turner and Paulson out of Lane’s office.
With Lane still in his arms, he said, “What happened? I saw the package in the SUV.”
“I came back to get your roses. And the guys were in my office.”
Ben kissed her. “Babe, leave the roses. There are dozens more where those came from. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
As he released Lane, Ben pulled the clip from his gun and ejected the bullet that was in the chamber. He put the clip in his pocket. Still holding the gun in his right hand, he put his left arm around her waist and held her as closely as he could.
“Let me lock up,” she said as she closed and locked her office door. “Apparently they were in my office to hide some paperwork that would add to my guilt. Unless they give up the details, I imagine Adam and Mick will need to search my office tomorrow.”
She locked the door and turned to face him. She pressed against him, put her arm around his neck, and kissed him. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.”
“Always, Red. I’ll always rescue you.”
“By the way, apparently being held captive at gun point makes me hungry. I’m starving. Do we have reservations or have we missed our chance?”
Ben laughed. Only Lane could think of her stomach after being held hostage. He looked at his watch.
“I can make it happen.”
Lane smiled, certain he was right.
Chapter 17
Making statements
Try as he might, Ben couldn’t convince Lane to spend another night at his house.
“I’ve been away from home for two days. The kids will all be back tomorrow. I’ve got things to do,” she told him during dinner.
In the end, he relented, without even trying to use his best lawyer skills, he knew that the murderer was in custody, and that she’d be safe. He felt both disappointed and relieved that he didn’t need to rearrange his house to keep the whole Parker clan safe. Disappointed because he was going to miss having her there, relieved because he wasn’t going to have a conversation with the Parker kids about him sleeping in the same bed with their mother, especially Jess.
In truth, Lane was getting used to being at Ben’s. She was used to waking in the night and hearing his calm steady breathing next to her. Even though it was just a few blocks, she called him when she’d gotten home; she’d started the habit as a teenager, with her friends. Lane and her friends would call each other to say they’d gotten home safely. She had continued it throughout her twenties, thirties, and into her forties, so it just felt natural the first time she’d left Ben’s and called him when she was home. He’d come to expect it and the few times she’d forgotten, he had called her. Once when she stopped at the grocery store on her way, she’d gotten home to find him in her driveway. He had called her house. Jamie had answered and said she wasn’t home yet and he had gotten in his car and drove over.
Lane spent a peaceful night in her own bed. Saturday morning she was up, showered, and dressed and waiting for Ben by nine-thirty. She had called her boss, Al Edwards earlier to explain what had happened the evening before at the office. When the press got ahold of things, who knew what would end up in the paper or on the airwaves and as CEO, Al needed to have a heads up.
Jess’s flight was getting in at eleven o’clock and the boys would pick her up on their way back from Omaha, so Lane was free until the afternoon. She was glad that there was a happy conclusion to the story she was going to have to tell the kids. Happy for her at least in that she was neither dead nor under arrest. Not so happy for Paul Gardner who died, apparently at the hands of his own son, and not for Gracie Paulson whose husband was in jail because he had tried to find a way to pay for medical bills. Not even for Craig Turner who was just greedy and stupid.
She heard the garage door open and looked up to see the biggest bouquet of roses she’d ever seen in her life coming through the door. Ben’s face came into view as he put the vase on the counter. “I told you there were dozens more where the others came from.”
The bouquet was even bigger than the one he’d sent to her office. While there still were some yellow roses tipped in red there were by far many more red roses. Ben bent and kissed her. A kiss to curl her toes.
“Are you ready to go?”
That was the enigma of Ben. One hugely romantic gesture after another followed by some simple every day statement.
“I just need to leave a note in case the kids get home before we get back.” It was a routine that she and the kids had gotten into when they were younger; if no one was home, you had to leave a note on the refrigerator when you left. When the kids were younger, she had a form they filled out.
“I’m at …blank… with …blank… the phone number is …blank … I’ll be back at …blank …love … blank”
Of course, that was before they all had cell phones, but it was still a habit. She wrote, “I’m running errands with Ben. I should be back by noon. Love, Mom”
They walked into Leawood Police headquarters and didn’t wait long before Mick joined them. The murder had taken place in Leawood, putting it within Mick’s jurisdiction. The false imprisonment of Lane had taken place in Overland Park. Regardless of where the crimes had taken place, the Johnson County District Attorney would prosecute.
Lane and Ben each sat alone in separate interview rooms. Since they were both witnesses, they were separated.
Mick came in and looked at Lane. “Tell me what happened.”
“I went to my office to pick up a package from my mother-in-law. I got there about five-fifteen. I left my car at the curb and went into the building. There was no one at the guard station. I took the elevator to my floor and went to my office. When I was in my office, I saw the roses Ben had sent Tuesday, and didn’t want to leave them over the weekend to die, so I picked up the package and took it to the SUV. Then I went back to get the flowers. I was distracted, lost in thought. I was thinking about my kids coming home and the house not being safe. Thinking about talking to Ben about all of us staying with him until this was over.” Lane paused and closed her eyes recalling the scene.
“As I entered the door to my office, I saw Craig Turner going through my desk. He was talking about hiding something. I imagine you’ll want to search it, my office. Anyway, they saw me, and Kyle grabbed me before I could back out of the office. He grabbed my arm and pushed me into one of the visitor chairs in front of my desk. Kyle Paulson and Craig began arguing. They told me that they were both illegitimate sons of Paul Gardner. Craig planned the murder and he got Kyle to commit the murder believing that Gardner was going to leave everything he had to them. Kyle’s wife has medical problems and he needed money to pay for her treatment. He’d first gone to Craig to ask for a loan and then Craig hatched the plan. Kyle didn’t even know that he was Gardner’s son. Craig said his mother died recently and before passing, she told him that Paul Gardner was his father. When he approached his father, Gardner told him about Kyle and that he was going to leave everything he had to his sons. It was then that Ben called and a few minutes later you and Ben came bursting in.”
“Okay, Lane write it up. I’m going next door to talk to Ben. By the way, the two guys are falling all over themselves, each of them blaming the other and Paulson’s trying to cut a deal. Turner’s claiming he didn’t know anything until after the fact.”
Before leaving the room, Mick passed a yellow legal pad and a pen to Lane.
“I’ll be back to review it with you when I finish with Ben.”
Mick entered the interview room where Ben sat. “You have my verbal statement from yesterday. Just give me the legal pad and I’ll write it up.” Ben took the legal pad and pen and began writing his statement.
“Hey, Mickey. Lane’s birthday is tomorrow and the kids and I are throwing a surprise party at my house tonight. If you don’t already have plans, you should come.”
Mick laughed. “Yeah, not so much of a surprise. She invited me earlier this week.”
Ben stopped writing. “God almighty, her daughter is going to have someone’s head when she finds out who let the cat of the bag.”
Both Ben and Lane finished writing and signing their statements. In the parking lot, after Mick walked them out, Lane leaned over and hugged him. “Mick, in all of the excitement yesterday, I forgot to thank you for your part in my rescue. “
“Believe me, it was my pleasure,” he said as he bent to kiss her cheek. He could get used to having her hug him, used to kissing her. Bellini would screw up and move on, and he’d be there to hold her hand and make her forget all about Bellini.
